Company Library

Kichiemon Porcelain Co., Ltd.

吉右ヱ門製陶所

Kichiemon Porcelain Co., Ltd. was founded in 1673 in Arita which is a production area of porcelain. At the time of its establishment, they were producing sake decanter which was a main product in the Sotoyama area of Arita. Although the fire of their kiln had once ceased, they resumed production of porcelain in 1950, right after the war. In order to achieve product differentiation in Arita where the painting in Sometsuke style is popular, this company introduced another painting technique called “Icchin drawing (slip)”. With this technique of adding raised decoration on the surface of the ceramic body, Kichiemon began to focus on production of tableware for professional-use. As they can prepare their original glazes in their specialty of “Icchin”, the rich expression created by the variety of colours is appealing. Besides, taking advantage of the skill of metal-casting learned in university, the current president Mr. Yoshiyasu Harada has developed a novel decorative technique to apply foamy glaze to the surface of porcelain after 10 years of experiment. This technique named as “Awagesho” means foamy embellishment and it opens the way of new expression based on the existing technique of “Icchin”. While returning to the foundation built by his grandfather and father the promising son of Kichiemon embodies the idiom “visiting old, learn new”.